Mayor of Golden disappointed by CP Rail's river-road closure over long weekend

The mayor of Golden, B.C., says it's "unfortunate" that CP Rail closed access to the lower canyon of the Kicking Horse River over the May long weekend, even though waters were too high to allow for rafting, anyway.

It would have been a sign of "good faith" for the company to keep access to the river open, Ron Oszust said, despite recent rains making that section of the river too swollen for rafting companies to use, for now.

CP Rail remains locked in a dispute with the B.C. government over a road that crosses an active rail line and serves as the only access point to that part of the canyon.

• MORE MOUNTAIN NEWS | Alberta hopes ATV bridge over Waiparous Creek will strike balance
• MORE MOUNTAIN NEWS | Kristin Renee Czyz's BASE jump death ruled accident

Rafting companies have used the road in the past to get to and from the river but CP Rail put an end to that this year, citing liability concerns.

After a meeting in April, it appeared a solution had been reached, but on Friday, the company locked the access gate and claimed the B.C. government had backed out of its side of the deal.

In a news release, CP Rail said the province "reversed a position that formed the basis for an agreement-in-principle that would have seen rafting companies granted access to cross active CP railway tracks safely to the lower canyon of the Kicking Horse River."

The company said it needs the province, in particular, to "assume the risks associated with any safety-related incident arising directly from this special access for rafters."

Rafting companies surprised

Ryan Johannesen, owner of Glacier Rafting in Golden, said he was surprised when he spotted the gate being installed on Saturday. 

"As we drove past, we saw them installing a gate right off the highway. The previous gate was down lower, closer to the tracks," he said. 

Over the weekend, he said extra CP Rail police were on hand to ensure companies were not trespassing. 

Johannesen is surprised the issue hasn't been resolved.

"You know, you don't come to a meeting and say 'hey, it's resolved, we're going to save the day' as CP did, and then it's May long and it's not open here," he said.

"It just seems to be getting more and more complicated for something that's really simple to do and we've been doing for so long."

Opposition MLA sides with government

The NDP MLA who represents the area, however, sided with B.C.'s Liberal government in the dispute.

"I hold CP Rail directly responsible for this fiasco," Norm Macdonald, the MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, wrote in a public Facebook post.

"There may be attempts to cast blame on other parties, but I reject that," he added.

"CP Rail came to my community and made a clear promise. This is the responsibility of CP Rail to solve, and it is the expectation of the people of Golden that CP Rail do what needs to be done to fulfill their commitment to the community. Nothing less is acceptable."

The province, for its part, says it's working to find a solution.

"Provincial staff has been on the ground directly working with the local government, rafters and CP to help facilitate an agreement," the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training said in a statement.

"We are disappointed that we have moved from celebrating an agreement in principle on April 22 to now facing the loss of the summer rafting season," the ministry added.

"The province remains willing to take reasonable steps to find a way to keep the season open but need CP to be a reasonable partner."

Mayor still 'optimistic'

The mayor of Golden, who participated in the April discussions with CP Rail and provincial government officials, said the company told them at the time "that there would be rafting on the lower canyon even if there was not a signed agreement" by the time Victoria Day rolled around.

"It's unfortunate that there wasn't the fulfillment of the commitment to allow rafting on the lower canyon for the long weekend," Oszust said.

A CP Rail spokesman said Monday the company had nothing further to say on the matter.

Oszust said the company and province are set to have more discussions Tuesday and that he believes a workable agreement is still possible.

"We're still optimistic that both parties can find the solution that they both can live with," he said.

Johannesen is optimistic as well, despite a bit of worry about how things will work out.

"Right now we're sort of proceeding as if, you know, the right thing is going to happen here — which we feel is bound to happen eventually — which is we can access the entire river here, and the lower canyon."